Each country accused the other of being the aggressor.
a group of smaller states had formed an alliance to deter potential aggressors
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The advisee may present herself as a supplicant but end up an aggressor, demanding and scornful.—Merve Emre, New Yorker, 16 June 2025 But to foreign audiences, who knew little of domestic concerns, Seward’s message made Lincoln seem to be the aggressor—a terrible messaging strategy, in Sumner’s view.—Zaakir Tameez
june 11, Literary Hub, 11 June 2025 The long-term solution for U.S. allies is to be able to deter aggressors with capabilities that are sovereign, ideally in the sense that they have been produced domestically but certainly in the sense that they can be deployed and operated without the concurrence of the United States.—Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2025 In peacetime, military forces working with NATO conduct training exercises across Eastern Europe and other places to help reassure allies about the strength of the military coalition – and to deter potential aggressors, like Russia.—John Deni, The Conversation, 27 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for aggressor
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin, "attacker, assailant," from aggredī, adgredī "to approach, attack" + -tor, agent suffix — more at aggress
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